The Freshman 15: How to Avoid It

With rumors of the Freshman 15 trend swirling around in your head, picking your meal plan for college may seem like a daunting task. You like to eat, but you don’t want to eat too much and gain the extra weight. If you pick a more expensive plan and end up with leftover money, the gorging of any and everything to finish off your meal plan will lead up to a steady rush of weight gain. Don’t even forget about those campus restaurants!

But I digress…

I went to seek advice from upperclassmen on how to save fellow freshman, like me, from joining the Freshman 15 train. Here are a few of the tips that they gave me regarding the dining halls.

• Pizza is one of the fattest things to order with all the carbs from the bread and cheese. The best approach is to tackle the sandwiches. They are the best because they are handmade to your liking and healthy altogether. 
• I would suggest skipping the daily ice cream, and avoid getting everything that looks too good. People who live on campus tend to take more than they can eat, so they tend to overindulge and overeat. 
• I would say to avoid the dessert bar. Maybe limit yourself to a treat on Friday. Also, check calorie counts on your school's website. All of the food has a lot more calories than you’d think. 
• Avoid your typical burgers and pizza, and go for a salad instead, because nothing tastes as good as skinny feels. 
• The fries! Getting fries with every meal can add up. Try another side dish. Even if there are mashed potatoes or something, it’s better than French fries. 

Avoiding the Freshman 15 is not only about what you eat or how much of it, but the new lifestyle you plan to live. Finally being free of the parental advice to “eat your vegetables,” leaves you ultimately in control of your health.

“Having food available 24/7 is a hard thing to avoid,” one upperclassman said. “I think a lot of the issue is when you eat as much as it is what you eat.”

“The biggest thing for me was late night food runs,” another upperclassman said. “At least a couple times a week, I would get a text late at night asking me if I wanted to go get food!”

In your tuition and fees, there is probably some allotment for use of the fitness and recreational facilities. USE IT! One student said that he gained weight his freshman year, but it was muscle. He said that he biked and walked around his campus and the local town. “If you do that, then you’ll have nothing to worry about,” he said.

In the end, don’t let the Freshman 15 scare you. Figure out what type of lifestyle you want to live, and live it. Who knows ... you may be too busy enjoying campus life to overeat!

By: Aspen Evans